By April 2003, when the U.S. invaded Iraq, Saddam Hussein had stockpiled 500 tons of yellowcake uranium at his al Tuwaitha nuclear weapons development plant south of Baghdad.

That intriguing little detail is almost never mentioned by the big media, who prefer to chant the mantra "Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction" while echoing Joseph Wilson's claim that "Bush lied" about seeking more of the nuclear material in Niger. The media's decision to put the Wilson-Plame affair back on the front burner, however, may turn out to be a blessing in disguise for President Bush - giving his administration a chance to resurrect an important debate they conceded far too easily about the weapons of mass destruction threat posed by Saddam Hussein.

First, the facts - from a reliable critic of the White House - the New York Times, which covered the story long after the paper announced it was tightening its standards on WMD news out of Iraq.

"The United States has informed an international agency that oversees nuclear materials that it intends to move hundreds of tons of uranium from a sealed repository south of Baghdad to a more secure place outside Iraq," the paper announced in a little noticed May 2004 report.

"The repository, at Tuwaitha, a centerpiece of Saddam Hussein's nuclear weapons program until it was largely shut down after the first Persian Gulf war in 1991, holds more than 500 tons of uranium," the paper revealed, before insisting: "None of it [is] enriched enough to be used directly in a nuclear weapon."

Well, almost none.

The Times went on to report that amidst Saddam's yellowcake stockpile, U.S. weapons inspectors found "some 1.8 tons" that they "classified as low-enriched uranium."

The paper conceded that while Saddam's nearly 2 tons of partially enriched uranium was "a more potent form" of the nuclear fuel, it was "still not sufficient for a weapon."

Consulted about the low-enriched uranium discovery, however, Ivan Oelrich, a physicist at the Federation of American Scientists, told the Associated Press that if it was of the 3 percent to 5 percent level of enrichment common in fuel for commercial power reactors, the 1.8 tons could be used to produce enough highly enriched uranium to make a single nuclear bomb.

And Thomas B. Cochran, director of the nuclear program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, told the Times that the low-enriched uranium could be useful to a nation with nuclear ambitions.

"A country like Iran could convert that into weapons-grade material with a lot fewer centrifuges than would be required with natural uranium," he explained.

Luckily, Iraq didn't have even the small number of centrifuges necessary to get the job done.

Or did they?

The physicist tapped by Saddam to run his centrifuge program says that after the first Gulf War, the program was largely dismantled. But it wasn't destroyed.

In fact, according to what he wrote in his 2004 book, "The Bomb in My Garden," Dr. Mahdi Obeidi told U.S. interrogators: "Saddam kept funding the IAEC [Iraq Atomic Energy Commission] from 1991 ... until the war in 2003."

"I was developing the centrifuge for the weapons" right through 1997, he revealed.

And after that, Dr. Obeidi said, Saddam ordered him under penalty of death to keep the technology available to resume Iraq's nuke program at a moment's notice.

Dr. Obeidi said he buried "the full set of blueprints, designs - everything to restart the centrifuge program - along with some critical components of the centrifuge" under the garden of his Baghdad home.

"I had to maintain the program to the bitter end," he explained. All the while the Iraqi physicist was aware that he held the key to Saddam's continuing nuclear ambitions.

"The centrifuge is the single most dangerous piece of nuclear technology," Dr. Obeidi says in his book. "With advances in centrifuge technology, it is now possible to conceal a uranium enrichment program inside a single warehouse."

Consider: 500 tons of yellowcake stored at Saddam's old nuclear weapons plan, where he'd managed to partially enrich 1.8 tons. And the equipment and blueprints that could enrich enough uranium to make a bomb stored away for safekeeping. And all of it at the Iraqi dictator's disposal.

If the average American was aware of these undisputed facts, the debate over Iraq's weapons of mass destruction would have been decided long ago - in President Bush's favor.

One more detail that Mr. Wilson and his media backers don't like to discuss: There's a reason Niger was such a likely candidate for Saddam's uranium shopping spree.

That intriguing little detail is almost never mentioned by the big media, who prefer to chant the mantra "Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction" while echoing Joseph Wilson's claim that "Bush lied" about seeking more of the nuclear material in Niger. The media's decision to put the Wilson-Plame affair back on the front burner, however, may turn out to be a blessing in disguise for President Bush - giving his administration a chance to resurrect an important debate they conceded far too easily about the weapons of mass destruction threat posed by Saddam Hussein.

What Bush needs to do is release video footage of the yellowcake uranium in Iraq.

I agree that President Bush should have the guts to reveal all this information about Saddam's stockpile. Bush is shooting himself in the foot by holding back vital information that would destroy the MSM and give the Democratic nutty bunch a hot foot. Why, is Bush afraid to pull some strings on some of these nuts?

In this October 2003 article, he claims to have been advising Kerry for about 5 months. That would put his initial involvement back in May or June of 2003.

Wilson, former ambassador to the West African nation of Gabon, said he has long been a Kerry supporter and has contributed $2,000 to the campaign this year. He said he has been advising Kerry on foreign policy for about five months and will campaign for Kerry, including a trip to New Hampshire next month.

Could minor Ambassador Joe Wilson himself have been the source in blowing his own Wife's cover?

It is distinctly possible, (though it may be unlikely that Joe Wilson himself directly was NY Times Judith Miller's source), since Joe Wilson himself evidently routinely bragged openly to strangers about her CIA employment, prior to such "cover" being "blown" in the press.

Here's an example of Joe's apparently routine and open bragging about Valerie being a "CIA agent," which became known directly to me over a year ago:

He certainly bragged about it per a famous and highly reliable source's (named below) account of his own face-to-face encounter with Amb. Joe Wilson prior to Valerie Plame's "outing" as a CIA agent/employee.

Based upon a personal conversation (we were in a small group eating; it was NOT an "off the record") I had with eminent historian Victor Davis Hanson (we were at a luncheon table together during a trip to Europe), it appeared entirely possible that Joe Wilson himself was the (or one source, if not the original one) possible source in revealing his own wife's status as a CIA agent or employee.

Victor Davis Hanson (Wilson presumably knew Victor Davis Hanson wrote regularly for NRO (National Review Online), had done OpEds for the Wall street Journal, and other publications, and had his own Website with a widespread following) said he (VDH) & Joe Wilson were both in the same "Green Room" before a televised debate-discussion on Iraq, etc. and Joe first warned the TV make-up person not to get powder on his $14,000 Rolex watch, then he bragged to Victor about several things (possessions and trips to Aspen, etc.), like his expensive car (I think it was a Mercedes), and then bragged about his beautiful wife who, Joe Wilson said (braggingly) was a CIA operative.

I asked Victor Davis Hanson Why he didn't write up this account.(?) He replied that Joe Wilson would probably simply deny it, since only he (VDH) & Joe Wilson were in the Green Room together before the broadcast.

However, it is now easy to surmise that Joe Wilson is a crass, materialistic, self-promoting, vain, egotistical, bragaddocio-opportunist, so this account is perfectly consistent with Valerie Plame's TWO photo shoots in Vanity Fair. (Or was it Vogue? No, probably too crass for Vogue, n'est pas?)

What Bush needs to do is release video footage of the yellowcake uranium in Iraq.

It's not exactly a revelation. Iraq posessing it was not a violation of any agreements or UN sanctions, and it was regularly monitored by the IAEA, and its existence was well known and documented repeatedly before the war.

And the only way yellowcake can injure you is if someone dropped a drum of it out a window on your head.

Wow!!! Great find. This places ever more mystery over the question of WHOM it was that SELECTED Joe Wilson to go over to Niger, sip tea and cover up for Saddam. Was Saddam, JFKerry's own pet project he sought to save for the French?????

Responding to the firestorm that erupted after Wilson's July 2003 column, Prime Minister Tony Blair told reporters: "In case people should think that the whole idea of a link between Iraq and Niger was some invention, in the 1980s we know for sure that Iraq purchased round about 270 tons of uranium from Niger."

"I agree that President Bush should have the guts to reveal all this information about Saddam's stockpile. Bush is shooting himself in the foot by holding back vital information that would destroy the MSM and give the Democratic nutty bunch a hot foot. Why, is Bush afraid to pull some strings on some of these nuts?"

Unless it was a legitimate nuke with a lit fuse sitting atop a missile in an underground facility with a control room run by a bald headed dwarf petting a white cat the media isn't going to accept it as being WMD.

I did a Google on "generals foreign policy experts campaign for kerry new hampshire" and came up with the same press release you did.

Did you note THIS at the end of the release? Whereas the campaign said there would be "dozens" of foreign policy experts fanning out across the state, only SIX were worthy of having their biographical info included. And...you got it...Wilson was among the six. Sounds like he was pretty well connected inside the campaign at that early stage, don't ya think?

More significantly, here's what his bio says:

Ambassador Joe Wilson served a distinguished career as a diplomat for more than twenty years. He was the acting U.S. ambassador in Iraq during Operation Desert Shield and the last U.S. official to meet with Saddam Hussein before the first Gulf War. He was assigned in 2002 by Vice President Dick Cheney to investigate claims that Iraq was trying to buy Uranium for Niger.

Hmmmmm. Isn't this the man who's been going around swearing he NEVER SAID VP CHENEY SENT HIM?!

Now, there is NO other possible source for that bio info than from Wilson himself. At that time, his trip wouldn't be publicly reported for at least 4 more months.

BASEMENT H-BOMB PRODUCTION (or have you stopped worrying and really come to love the bomb?)

PART I MAKING YOUR BOMB

Making and owning an H-bomb is the kind of challenge real Americans seek. Who wants to be a passive victim of nuclear war when with a little effort you can be an active participant? Bomb shelters are for losers. Who wants to huddle together underground eating canned Spam? Winners want to push the button themselves. Making your own H-bomb is a big step in nuclear assertiveness training - it's called Taking Charge. We're sure you'll enjoy the risks and the heady thrill of playing nuclear chicken.

INTRODUCTION When the feds clamped down on The Progressive magazine for attemptng to publish an article on the manufacture of the hydrogen bomb, it piqued our curiosity. Was it really true that atomic and hydrogen bomb technology was so simple you could build an H-bomb in your own kitchen? Seven Days decided to find out. Food editor Barbara Ehrenreich, investigative reporter Peter Biskind, Photographer Jane Melnick and nuclear scientist Michio Kaku were given three days to cook up a workable H-bomb. They did and we have decided to share their culinary secrets with you. Not that Seven Days supports nuclear terrorism. We don't. We would prefer to die slowly from familiar poisons like low-level radiation, microwaves, DDT, DBCP, aflatoxins, PBBs, PBCs, or food dyes, rather than unexpectedly, say as hostage to a Latvian nationalist brandishing a homemade bomb. In our view the real terrorists are the governments, American, Soviet, French, Chinese, and British, that are hoarding H-bombs for their own use, and worse still, those governments (U.S., French and German) that are eagerly peddling advanced nuclear technology to countries like South Africa, Brazil, and Argentina so that they can make their own bombs. When these bombs are used, and they will be, it will be the world's big-time nuclear peddlers, along with corporate suppliers like General Electric, Westinghouse, and Gulf Oil, that we can thank for it. Gagging The Progressive will do no more for national security than backyard bomb shelters because like it or not the news is out. The heart of the successful H-bomb is the successful A-bomb. Once you've got your A-bombs made, the rest is frosting on the cake. All you have to do is set them up so that when they detonate they'llstart off a hydrogen-fusion reaction.

1. GETTING THE INGREDIENTS Uranium is the basic ingredient of the A-bomb. When a uranium atom's nucleus splits apart it releases a tremendous amount of energy (for its size). And it emits neutrons which go on to split other nearby uranium nuclei, releasing more energy, in what is called a 'chain reaction'. (When atoms split matter is converted into energy according to Einstein's equation E=mc2. What better way to mark his centennial than with your own atomic fireworks?) There are two kinds (isotopes) of uranium: the rare U-235, used in bombs, and the more common, heavier, but useless U-238. Natural uranium contains less than 1 percent U-235 and in order to be usable in bombs it has to be 'enriched' to 90 percent U-235 and only 10 percent U-238. Plutonium-239 can also be used in bombs as a substitute for U-235. Ten pounds of U-235 (or slightly less plutonium) is all that is necessary for a bomb. Less than ten pounds won't give you a critical mass. So purifying or enriching naturally occuring uranium is likely to be your first big hurdle. It is infinitely easy to steal ready-to-use enriched uranium or plutonium than to enrich some yourself. And stealing uranium is not as hard as it sounds. There are at least three sources of enriched uranium or plutonium. Enriched uranium is manufactured at a gaseous diffusion plant in Portsmouth Ohio. From there it is shipped in 10 liter bottles by airplane and trucks to conversion plants that turn it into uranium oxide or uranium metal. Each 10 liter bottle contains 7 kilograms of U-235, and there are 20 bottles to a typical shipment. Conversion facilities exist at Hematite, Missouri, Apollo, Pennsylvania, and Erwin, Tennessee. The Kerr-McGee plant at Crescent Oklahoma, where Karen Silkwood worked, was a conversion plant that 'lost' 40 lbs of plutonium. Enriched uranium can be stolen from these plants or from fuel-fabricating plants like those in New Haven, San Diego, or Lynchburg, Virginia. (A former Kerr-McGee supervisor, James V. Smith, when asked at the Silkwood trial if there were any security precautions at the plant to prevent theft, testified that 'There were none of any kind, no guards, no fences, no nothing.') Plutonium can be obtained from places like United Nuclear in Pawling, New York, Nuclear Fuel Services in Erwin, Tennessee, General Elecric in Pleasanton, California, Westinghouse in Cheswick, Pennsylvania, Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation (NUMEC) in Leechburg, Pennsylvania, and plants in Hanford, Washington and Morris, Illinois. According to Rolling Stone magazine, the Isrealis were involved in the theft of plutonium from NUMEC. Finally, you can steal enriched uranium or plutonium while it's en-route from conversion plants to fuel-fabricating plants. It is usually transported (by air or truck) in the form of uranium oxide, a brownish powder resembling instant coffee, or as a metal, coming in small chunks called 'broken buttons.' Both forms are shipped in small cans stacked in 5-inch cylinders braced with welded struts in the center of ordinary 55 gallon steel drums. The drums weigh about 100 pounds and are clearly marked 'Fissible Material' or 'Danger, Plutonium.' A typical shipment might go from the enrichment plant at Portsmouth, Ohio to the conversion plant in Hematite Missouri then to Kansas City by truck where it would be flown to Los Angeles and then trucked down to the General Atomic plant in San Diego. The plans for the General Atomic plant are on file at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's reading room at 1717 H Street NW Washington. A Xerox machine is provided for the convenience of the public. If you can't get hold of any enriched uranium, you'll have to settle for commercial grade (20 percent U-235). This can be stolen from university reactors of a type called TRIGA Mark II, where security is even more casual than at commercial plants. If stealing uranium seems too tacky, you can buy it. Unenriched uranium is available at any chemical supply house for $23 a pound. Commercial grade (3 to 20 percent enriched) is available for $40 a pound from Gulf Atomic. You'll have to enrich it further yourself. Quite frankly this can be something of a pain in the ass. You'll need to start with a little more than 50 pounds of commercial-grade uranium (it's only 20 percent U-235 at best, and you need 10 pounds of U-235 so...). But with a little kitchen table chemistry you'll be able to convert the solid uranium oxide you've purchased into a liquid form. Once you've done that you'll be able to separate the U-235 you'll need from the U-238. First pour a few gallons of concentrated hydrofluoric acid into your uranium oxide, converting it to uranium tetrafluoride. (Safety note: Concentrated hydrofluoric acid is so corrosive that it will eat its way through glass, so store it only in plastic. Used 2-gallon plastic milk containers will do.) Now you have to convert your uranium tetrafluoride to uranium hexafluoride, the gaseous form of uranium which is convenient for separating out the isotope U-235 from U-238. To get the hexafluoride form, bubble fluorine gas into your container of uranium tetrafluoride. Fluorine is available in pressurized tanks from chemical-supply firms. Be careful how you use it though because fluorine is several times more deadly than chlorine, the classic World War I poison gas. Chemists reccomend that you carry out this step under a stove hood (the kind used to remove unpleasant cooking odors). If you've done you're chemistry right you should now have a generous supply of uranium hexafluoride ready for enriching. In the old horse-and-buggy days of A-bomb manufacture the enrichment was carried out by passing the uranium hexaflouride through hundreds of miles of pipes, tubes, and membranes, until the U-235 was eventually separated from the U-238. This gaseous-diffusion process, as it was called, is difficult, time-consuming, and expensive. Gaseous-diffusion plants cover hundreds of acres and cost in the neighborhood of $2-billion each. So forget it. There are easier and cheaper ways to enrich your uranium. First transform the gas into a liquid by subjecting it to pressure. You can use a bicycle pump for this. Then make a simple home centrifuge: Fill a standard-size bucket one-quarter full of liquid uranium hexafluoride and attach a six-foot rope to the bucket handle. Now swing the rope (and attached bucket) around your

head as fast as possible. Keep this up for about 45 minutes. Slow down gradually, and very gently put the bucket on the floor. The U-235, which is lighter, will have risen to the top, where it can be skimmed off like cream. Repeat this step until you have the required 10 pounds of uranium. (Safety note: Don't put all your enriched uranium hexafluoride in one bucket! Use at least two or three buckets and keep them in separate corners of the room. This will prevent the premature build-up of a critical mass.) Now it's time to convert your enriched uranium back to metal form. This is easily enough accomplished by spooning several ladlefuls of calcium (available in tablet form from your drugstore) into each bucket of uranium. The calcium will react with the uranium hexafloride to produce calcium fluoride, a colorless salt which can be easily be separated from your pure enriched uranium metal. A few precautions, uranium is not dangerously radioactive in the amounts you'll be handling. If you plan to make more than one bomb it might be wise to wear gloves and a lead apron, the kind you can buy in dental supply stores. Plutonium is one of the most toxic substances known. If inhaled a thousandth of a gram can cause massive fibrosis of the lungs, a painful way to go. Even a millionth of a gram in the lungs will cause cancer. If eaten plutonium is metabolized like calcium. It goes straight to the bones where it gives out alpha particles preventing bone marrow from manufacturing red blood cells. The best way to avoid inhaling plutonium is to hold your breath while handling it. If this is too difficult wear a mask. To avoid ingesting plutonium orally follow this simple rule: Never make an A-bomb on an empty stomach. If you find yourself dozing off while you're working or if you begin to glow in the dark, it might be wise to take a blood count. Prick your finger with a sterile pin, place a drop of blood on a microscope slide, cover it with a cover slip, and examine under a microscope. If you notice a strange lack of white blood cells,it might be time to consider the old bone marrow transplant.

Now you will need to form your uranium metal into two hemispheres. For this you will need two stainless steel bowls (about 6 inches in diameter) and a hammer. Uranium metal is malleable, like gold, so you should have no trouble hammering it into the bowl to get a good fit. Take one of your two five-pound hunks of uranium and fit it into each of the two stainless steel bowls. These two bowls of U-235 are the 'subcritical masses' which together forcefully will provide thecritical mass that makes your A-bomb go. Keep them a respectful distance apart while working because you don't want them to 'go critical' and blow up on you...at least not yet. Now hollow out the body of an old vacuum cleaner and place your two hemispheri cal bowls inside, open ends facing each other, no less than seven inches apart, using masking tape to set them up in position. The reason for the steel bowls and the vacuum cleaner, in case your wondering, is that these help reflect the neutrons back into the uranium for a more efficient explosion. 'A loose neutron is a useless neutron', as the A-bomb pioneers used to say. As far as the A-bomb goes, you're almost done.

The final problem is to figure out how to get the two U-235 hemispheres to smash into each other with sufficient force to set off a truly effective fission reaction. Almost any type of explosive can be used to drive them together. Gunpowder, for example, is easily made at home from potassium nitrate, sulpher, and carbon. Or you can get some blasting caps or TNT, buy them or steal them from a construction site. Best of all is C4 plastic explosive. You can mold it around your bowls and it's fairly safe to work with (but it might be wise to shape it around an extra salad bowl in another room and then fit it to your stainless steel bowls). Once the explosives are in place all you need to do is hook up a simple detonation device with a few batteries, a switch, and some wire. Remember though that it is essential that the two charges, one on each side of the casing, go off at once. Now put the whole thing in the casing of an old Hoover vacuum cleaner and your finished with this part of the process. The rest is easy.

A word to the wise about wastes. After your A-bomb is completed, you'll have a pile of moderately fatal radioactive wastes like U-238. These are not dangerous, but you do have to get rid of them. You can flush leftovers down the toilet (don't worry about polluting the ocean, there is already so much radioactive waste there, a few more bucketfuls won't make waves), or if your the fastidious type, the kind who never leaves gum under their seat at the movies, you can seal the nasty stuff in coffee cans and bury it in the backyard, just like Uncle Sam does. If the neighbors' kids have a habit of trampling the lawn, tell them to play over by the waste. You'll soon find that they're spending most of their time in bed.

Going first class: If you're like us, you're feeling the economic pinch, and you'll may want to make your bonmb as inexpensively as possible, consonant of course with reasonable yield. The recipe we've given is for a budget-pleasing A-bomb, no frills, no flourishes, just your basic 5 megaton bomb, capable of wiping out the New York metropolitan area, the Bay area, or Boston. But don't forget, your H-bomb will only be as good as the A-bombs in it. If you want to spend a little more money you can punch-up your A-bomb considerably. Instead of centrifuging your uranium by hand, you can buy a commercial centrifuge (Fisher Scientific sells one for about $1000). You also might want to be fussier about your design. The Hiroshima bomb, a relatively crude one, only fissioned 1 percent of it's uranium and yielded only 13 kilotons. In order to fission more of the uranium, the force of your explosive 'trigger' has got to be evenly diffused around the sphere, the same pressure has to be exerted on every point of the sphere simultaneously. (It was a technique for producing this sort of simultaneous detonation by fashioning the explosives into lenses that the government accused Julius and Ethel Rosenberg of trying to steal).

3. NOW, MAKE THREE MORE A-BOMBS FOLLOWING THE DIRECTIONS ABOVE

PART II PUTTING YOUR H-BOMB TOGETHER

The heart of the H-bomb is the fusion process. Several A-bombs are detonated in such a way as to create the extremely high temperature (100 million degrees celcius) necessary to fuse lithium deuteride (LiD) into helium. When the lithium nucleus slams into the deuterium nucleus, two helium nuclei are created, and if this happens to enough deuterium nuclei rapidly enough, the result is an enormous amount of energy, the energy of the H-bomb. And you don't have to worry about stealing lithium deuteride, it can be purchased from any chemical-supply house. It costs $1000 a pound. If your budget won't allow it you can substitute lithium hydride at $40 a pound. You will need at least 100 pounds, It's a corrosive and toxic powder so be careful. Place the lithium deuteride or hydride in glass jars and surround it with four A-bombs in their casings. Attach one to the same detonator so that they will go off simultaneously. The container for the whole thing is no problem. They can be placed anywhere (inside an old stereo console, a discarded refrigerator, etc.). When the detonator sets off the four A-bombs all eight hemispheres of fissionable material will slam into each other at the same time creating four critical masses and four detonations. This will raise the temperature of the lithium deuteride to 100 million degrees C fast enough (a few billionths of a second) so that the lithium will not be blown all over the neighborhood before the nuclei have time to fuse. The result, at least 1000 times the punch of the puny A-bomb that leveled Hiroshima (20 million tons of TNT vs. 20 thousand tons.)

PART III WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR BOMB Now that you have a fully assembled H-bomb housed in an attractive console of your choice you may be wondering: What should I do with it? Every family will have to answer this question according to its own tastes and preferences but you may want to explore some possibilities which have been successfully pioneered by the American government.

1. SELL YOUR BOMB AND MAKE A PILE OF MONEY In these days of rising inflation, rising unemployment, and an uncertain economic outlook, few businesses make as much sense as weapons production. If your career forcast is cloudy, bomb sales may be the only sure way to avoid the humiliation of receiving welefare or unemployment. At any income level a home H-bomb business can be an invaluable income supplement, and certainly a profitable alternative to selling Tupperware or pirated Girl Scout cookies. Unfortunately for the family bomb business, big government has already cornered a large part of the world market. But this does not mean that there is a shortage of potential customers. The raid on Entebee was the Waterloo of hijacking, and many nationalist groups are now on the alert for new means to get their message across. They'd jump at the chance to get hold of an H-bomb. Emerging nations that can't ante up enough rice or sugar to buy themselves a reactor from G.E. or Westinghouse are also shopping around. You may wonder about the ethics of selling to nations or groups whose goal you disapprove of. But here again take a tip from our government, forget ideology, it's cash that counts. And remember, H-bomb sales have a way of escalating, almost like a chain reaction. Suppose you make a sale to South Yemen which you believe to be a Soviet puppet. Well within a few days some discrete inquiries from North Yemen and possibly the Saudis, the Egyptians and the Ethiopians as well can be expected. Similarly, a sale to the IRA will generate a sale to the Ulster government, a sale to the Tanzanians will bring the Ugandans running and so forth. It doesn't matter which side your on, only how many sides there are. Don't forget about the possibility of repeat sales to the same customer. As the experience of the U.S and the U.S.S.R. has shown, each individual nation has a potentially infinite need for H-bombs. No customer, no matter how small, can ever have too many.

2. USE YOUR BOMB AT HOME Many families are attracted to the H-bomb simply as a 'deterrent'. A discrete sticker on the door or on the living room window saying 'This Home Protected by H-bomb' will discourage IRS investigators, census takers, and Jehovah's Witnesses. You'll be suprised how fast the crime rate will go down and property values will go up. And once the news gets out that you are a home H-bomb owner you'll find that you have unexpected leverage in neighborhood disputes over everything from parking places and stereo noise levels to school tax rates. So relax and enjoy the pride and excitement of home H-bombownership!

IS IT FOR YOU? Let's be honest. The H-bomb isn't for everyone. Frankly there are people who can't handle it. They break out in hives at the very mention of mega-deaths, fallout, radiation sickness. The following quiz will help you find out whether you have what it takes for home H-bomb ownership. If you can answer 'yes' to six or more of these questions, then your emotionally eligible to join the nuclear club. If not, a more conventional weapon may be more your cup of tea, try botulism-toxin, laser rays, or nerve gas. 1. I ignore the demands of others. 2. I subscribe to one or more of the following: Soldier of Fortune, Hustler, Popular Mechanics, Self. 3. Though I have many interesting acquaintances, I am my own best friend. 4. I know what to say after you say 'Hello', but I am seldom interested in pursuing the conversation. 5. I have seen the movie 'The Deer Hunter' more than once. 6. I know that everone can be a winner if they want to, and I resent whiners. 7. I own one or more of the following: handgun, video game, trash compactor, snowmobile. 8. I am convinced that leukemia is psychosomatic. 9. I am aware that most vegetarians are sexually impotent. 10. I have read evidence that solar energy is a Communist conspiracy.

MYTHS ABOUT NUCLEAR WAR Ever since the first mushroom cloud over Hiroshima ushered in the atomic age a small group of nay-sayers and doom-mongers has lobbied, campaigned and demonstrated to convince Americans that H-bomb ownership, along with nuclear power is dangerous and unhealthy. Using their virtual stranglehold over the media these people have tried to discredit everything nuclear from energy to war. They have vastly overrated the risks of nuclear bombs and left many americans feeling demoralized and indecisive, not sure where the truth lies. Well, here are the myths, and here are the facts.

Myth: After a nuclear exchange the earth will no longer be suitable for human habitation. Fact: This is completely false. According to one scientist (quoted in John McPhee's The Curve of Binding Energy)' The largest bomb that has ever been exploded anywhere was 60 megatons, and that is one-thousandth the force of an earthquake, one-thousandth the force of a hurricane. We have lived with earthquakes and hurricanes for a long time.' Another scientist adds, 'It is often assumed that a full blown nuclear war would be the end of life on earth. That is far from the truth. To end life on earth would take at least a thousand times the total yield of all the nuclear explosives existing in the world, and probably a lotmore.' Even if humans succumbed, many forms of life would survive a nuclear free-for-all, cockroaches, certain forms of bacteria, &lichens.

Myth: Radiation is bad for you. Fact: Everything is bad for you if you have too much of it. If you eat too many bananas you'll get a stomach-ache. If you get too much sun you can get sunburned (or even skin cancer). Same thing with radiation. Too much may make you feel under the weather, but nuclear industry officials insist that there is no evidence that low-level radiation has any really serious adverse effects. And, high-level radiation may bring unexpected benefits. It speeds up evolution by weeding out unwanted genetic types and creating new ones. (Remember the old saying, 'Two heads are better than one.') Nearer home it's plain that radiation will get rid of pesky crab grass and weeds, and teenagers will find that brief exposure to a nuclear burst vaporizes acne and other skin blemishes. (Many survivors of the Hiroshima bomb found that they were free from skin and it's attendant problems forever.)

I did a Google on "generals foreign policy experts campaign for kerry new hampshire" and came up with the same press release you did.

Did you note THIS at the end of the release? Whereas the campaign said there would be "dozens" of foreign policy experts fanning out across the state, only SIX were worthy of having their biographical info included. And...you got it...Wilson was among the six. Sounds like he was pretty well connected inside the campaign at that early stage, don't ya think?

More significantly, here's what his bio says:

Ambassador Joe Wilson served a distinguished career as a diplomat for more than twenty years. He was the acting U.S. ambassador in Iraq during Operation Desert Shield and the last U.S. official to meet with Saddam Hussein before the first Gulf War. He was assigned in 2002 by Vice President Dick Cheney to investigate claims that Iraq was trying to buy Uranium for Niger.

Hmmmmm. Isn't this the man who's been going around swearing he NEVER SAID VP CHENEY SENT HIM?!

Now, there is NO other possible source for that bio info than from Wilson himself. At that time, his trip wouldn't be publicly reported for at least 4 more months.

Wilson signed on with J F'n K's campaign as early as March 2003 and his NYT op ed was written in July. I'll try to find a link to the timeline

I'm pretty sure that you are right...in any case, Wilson was already working for the Kerry campaign when he wrote the Op-Ed.

Also, this article goes back to the reason why some CIA analysts said that Iraq wouldn't have been seeking yellowcake from Niger: These analysts argued that Iraq already had plenty from the previous purchase.

Another thing of note: Compare the President's wording that Iraq was seeking yellowcake from Niger to Wilson and the MSM's argument that Niger had not sold them any. From the beginning there was clearly intentional distortion of the argument by all of those talk shows and articles - not just Wilson.

42
posted on 07/17/2005 4:43:24 PM PDT
by lepton
("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)

Wilson implied he had been sent to Niger by Vice President Dick Cheney. Among copious other references to Cheney in the op-ed, Wilson said that CIA "officials asked if I would travel to Niger to check out the story" that Saddam Hussein had attempted to buy uranium from Niger, "so they could provide a response to the vice president's office."

Soon Clown Wilson was going around claiming: "The office of the vice president, I am absolutely convinced, received a very specific response to the question it asked, and that response was based upon my trip out there."

Dick Cheney responded by saying: "I don't know Joe Wilson. I've never met Joe Wilson. I don't know who sent Joe Wilson. He never submitted a report that I ever saw when he came back." Clown Wilson's allegation that Cheney had received his (unwritten) "report" was widely repeated as fact by, among others, The New York Times.

In a huffy editorial, the Times suggested there had been a "willful effort" by the Bush administration to slander the great and honorable statesman Saddam Hussein. As evidence, the Times cited Bush's claims about Saddam seeking uranium from Niger, which, the Times said, had been "pretty well discredited"  which, according to my copy of The New York Times Stylebook means "unequivocally corroborated"  "by Joseph Wilson 4th, a former American diplomat, after he was dispatched to Niger by the CIA to look into the issue."

So liberals were allowed to puff up Wilson's "report" by claiming Wilson was sent "by the CIA." But  in the traditional liberal definition of "criminal"  Republicans were not allowed to respond by pointing out Wilson was sent to Niger by his wife, not by the CIA and certainly not by Dick

Could minor Ambassador Joe Wilson himself have been the source in blowing his own Wife's cover?

It is distinctly possible, (though it may be unlikely that Joe Wilson himself directly was NY Times Judith Miller's source), since Joe Wilson himself evidently routinely bragged openly to strangers about her CIA employment, prior to such "cover" being "blown" in the press.

Here's an example of Joe's apparently routine and open bragging about Valerie being a "CIA agent," which became known directly to me over a year ago:

He certainly bragged about it per a famous and highly reliable source's (named below) account of his own face-to-face encounter with Amb. Joe Wilson prior to Valerie Plame's "outing" as a CIA agent/employee.

Based upon a personal conversation (we were in a small group eating; it was NOT an "off the record") I had with eminent historian Victor Davis Hanson (we were at a luncheon table together during a trip to Europe), it appeared entirely possible that Joe Wilson himself was the (or one source, if not the original one) possible source in revealing his own wife's status as a CIA agent or employee.

Victor Davis Hanson (Wilson presumably knew Victor Davis Hanson wrote regularly for NRO (National Review Online), had done OpEds for the Wall street Journal, and other publications, and had his own Website with a widespread following) said he (VDH) & Joe Wilson were both in the same "Green Room" before a televised debate-discussion on Iraq, etc. and Joe first warned the TV make-up person not to get powder on his $14,000 Rolex watch, then he bragged to Victor about several things (possessions and trips to Aspen, etc.), like his expensive car (I think it was a Mercedes), and then bragged about his beautiful ("hot") wife who, Joe Wilson said (braggingly) was a CIA operative.

I asked Victor Davis Hanson Why he didn't write up this account.(?) He replied that Joe Wilson would probably simply deny it, since only he (VDH) & Joe Wilson were in the Green Room together before the broadcast.

However, it is now easy to surmise that Joe Wilson is a crass, materialistic, self-promoting, vain, egotistical, bragaddocio-opportunist, so this account is perfectly consistent with Valerie Plame's TWO photo shoots in Vanity Fair. (Or was it Vogue? No, probably too crass for Vogue, n'est pas?)

Could minor Ambassador Joe Wilson himself have been the source in blowing his own Wife's cover?

It is distinctly possible, (though it may be unlikely that Joe Wilson himself directly was NY Times Judith Miller's source), since Joe Wilson himself evidently routinely bragged openly to strangers about her CIA employment, prior to such "cover" being "blown" in the press.

Here's an example of Joe's apparently routine and open bragging about Valerie being a "CIA agent," which became known directly to me over a year ago:

He certainly bragged about it per a famous and highly reliable source's (named below) account of his own face-to-face encounter with Amb. Joe Wilson prior to Valerie Plame's "outing" as a CIA agent/employee.

Based upon a personal conversation (we were in a small group eating; it was NOT an "off the record") I had with eminent historian Victor Davis Hanson (we were at a luncheon table together during a trip to Europe), it appeared entirely possible that Joe Wilson himself was the (or one source, if not the original one) possible source in revealing his own wife's status as a CIA agent or employee.

Victor Davis Hanson (Wilson presumably knew Victor Davis Hanson wrote regularly for NRO (National Review Online), had done OpEds for the Wall street Journal, and other publications, and had his own Website with a widespread following) said he (VDH) & Joe Wilson were both in the same "Green Room" before a televised debate-discussion on Iraq, etc. and Joe first warned the TV make-up person not to get powder on his $14,000 Rolex watch, then he bragged to Victor about several things (possessions and trips to Aspen, etc.), like his expensive car (I think it was a Mercedes), and then bragged about his beautiful ("hot") wife who, Joe Wilson said (braggingly) was a CIA operative.

I asked Victor Davis Hanson Why he didn't write up this account.(?) He replied that Joe Wilson would probably simply deny it, since only he (VDH) & Joe Wilson were in the Green Room together before the broadcast.

However, it is now easy to surmise that Joe Wilson is a crass, materialistic, self-promoting, vain, egotistical, bragaddocio-opportunist, so this account is perfectly consistent with Valerie Plame's TWO photo shoots in Vanity Fair. (Or was it Vogue? No, probably too crass for Vogue, n'est pas?)

I'm pretty sure that you are right...in any case, Wilson was already working for the Kerry campaign when he wrote the Op-Ed.

Also, don't forget that Wilson has been claiming that he went over to the Kerry campaign (and then went public with his accusations) because he was so angry about Bush's "sixteen words" in the State of the Union speech.

But, here we have evidence Wilson was already campaigning for Kerry in the week of January 13th....the SOTU wasn't until January 28th!

I wish we could find a record of what Wilson said on his little foray into New Hampshire politics. How much you want to bet he beat the drum of "Bush lied about the war"?

If nothing else, it's pretty apparent the whole Wilson brouhaha was a Kerry dirty trick set up....dependent on a willing MSM, of course.

Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.